Tonbridge Lacemakers

Will Riding visited again, following on from his previous talk about paint colours from natural elements. He shared historic geometric pattern creation

Will is employed by The Prince's Foundation dedicated to teaching heritage crafts to keep them from being lost

Our 2022/2023 charity
was Hearing Dogs.
Our own representative
Dandy accepted the
cheque for their behalf.

Our nominated charity for 2018/2019
was High Kent.
At the April AGM our Chair Anne presented
a £300 cheque to a representative from the charity

All the members are
missing Gladys since
her sudden passing
in February

More sad news for the group in 2018 with the
passing of Pam Edwards

We lost our member and friend Jean Yardley to
Motor Neurone Disease last year, in memory of
her the members chose this association as the 2016/2017 charity.
As usual we raise funds throughout the year from donations, sale of donated equipment, and from our Lace Fair, a significant proportion of which comes from the Tombola. Thank you to all the members who donated gifts for this stall, and to those who helped on the day.
Thanks also to our suppliers, lacemakers and friends

who supported us, without whom the Lace Fair would not able to continue.
Unfortunately due to our commitments this year we were unable to ask the Motor Neurone Disease Association to one of our lace meetings to present them with the cheque for £500
This was posted to them and we have received a letter of thanks, a certificate, and examples of how the funds raised will be used. As with most charities they rely, almost entirely, on donations to continue their work.

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She is missed by all her friends

Sadley Shelia Ladd passed away at the begining of January


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Each year our members of Tonbridge Lacemakers like to support a local charity. Members nominate causes close to their heart, and for 2015/2016 Janice Boatright asked that we support Kent Association for the Blind, who had given her so much support. This was unanimously voted for by the rest of the members.

Sadly Janice passed away during this year. From the sale of her craft equipment, particularly generous donations from the membership, the September raffle, the prizes for which were once again donated by Fred Bates, and some of the proceeds from the Lace Fair, we raised £500.

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At our May meeting Kent Blind Association sent along Amy Van der Weide for the cheque presentation. Amy gave us a very fascinating talk on how the money will be spent locally and how many people it will be able to help. I do not think any of us realised just how involved and committed they are in supporting sight impaired people to live independent lives.

Another Sad Loss

Jean will also be missed by our group.

Sadley no longer with us

Tragically In 2015 two of our long standing members,
Margaret Holmes and Janice Boatright,
died suddenly. They are both much missed. .

Good Luck Fred

We have had to bid Fred Bates a very fond farewell. A long standing and valued member of our group who, with his late wife Gladys, was our in-house supplier for many years. Now well into his 90's he is relocating to be near to his son.

Doreen Creed
One of the founder members of our group, has relocated to the Somerset.
So, sadley, can now only join us occasionally.

She is busy with her role for the Lace Guild, so we can catch up with her at one of the many shows she attends on their behalf.

The Garden Connection

Flowers with lace in the names of a variety

Camellia - Black Lace
Hydrangea - Burgundy Lace and White Lace
Wisteria - Lavender Lace
Begonia - Chantilly Lace
Delphinium - Blue Lace
Acer - Red Lace
Heuchera - Lace Ruffles
Sugar Snap Peas - Sugar Lace

Christmas the other side of the pond

A lady picking through the frozen turkeys in the grocery store unable to find one large enough for her family, asked the butcher
“Do these turkeys get any bigger?” the butcher replied
“No Ma’am they’re dead!”

Did You Know?

The English origin of the word lace owes something to the French lassis or lacis, but both are connected with the earlier Latin laqueus.
Early French laces were also called passements; the name applied to ornamental open work formed of threads of flax, cotton, silk, gold or silver, and occasionallyof mohair or aloe fiber, looped or plaited or twisted together by hand.
The most ancient specimens of lace in existence are pieces of knotted hair nets found in the tombs of Thebes and other parts of Egypt, some of which date back as far as 2500 BC. Several of these nets are adorned with tiny porcelain beads and figures strung amongst the meshes.
Bobbin lace and embroidered laces have been recovered from Egyptian Coptic tombs of the 3rd to 7th centuries AD.remains in the Coptic bombs indicate that the bobbbin laces were made not on a pillow with pins, but on a wooden frame with pegs to hold the threads apart. Today we refer to this type of lace as Sprang Weaving



The Language of Fans

Sent in by Coral Fry

Fans have been used to convey messages during times when the strict rules of behaviour did not permit conversation to take place freely. The first organic fan lanfuage appeared in Spain, this consisted of 55 movements with specific meanings. Later translated into English and reduced to 33 coded signs.

a selection follows:

Held in the right hand in front of the face - Follow me
Held in the left hand in front of the face - Desirous of acquaintance
Placing it on the left ear - I wish to be rid of you
Drawing across the forehead - You have changed
Carrying in the left hand - You are too willing
Twirling in the left hand - You are watched
Drawing through the hand - I hate you
Twirling in the right hand - I love another
Drawing across the cheek - I love you
Presented shut - Do you love me?
Drawing across the eyes - I am sorry
Touching the tip with a finger - I wish to speak to you
Letting it rest on the right cheek - Yes
Letting it rest on the left cheek - No
Open and shut - You are cruel
Dropping it - We will be friends

Bursary Report by Susan Piccionio

I was very surprised when my name was drawn as one of the “winners” of the 2006 bursaries, but I had no hesitation in knowing how to put it to good use. When we went to Bruges I noticed some small pieces of old lace in a shop window which were labelled “Rosaline”. This lace particularly caught my eye as it was fine and pretty.
I had picked up a Great Escapes brochure at our 2005 Lace Fair and noticed there was a weekend course on Rosaline lace at Salisbury in November so I booked straightaway.
The course was held at Sarum college which is a large Georgian house built as a theological college in the Cathedral Close.
We all met up on the Friday afternoon and after an early supper got started.
There were 7 students plus Judith Cordell the tutor. 3 of us had not worked this technique before but we were all used to making Honiton lace.
Judith explained that Rosaline lace is one of the Flemish laces and is a piece lace worked with a maximum of 7 pairs. There are only 9 motifs, 2 fillings and no coarse threads. Picots are occassionally used but tiny needlelace couronnes often feature.
All articles are made combining the motifs and some very attractive pieces can be achieved. Everything is very small and worked in 120 thread, bobbins are wound singly, except when adding a pair, and the start and finish techniques are quite unlike anything I'd ever done before! You put the pins in as and when required and it took quite a bit of effort not to put them too close together and to keep the tension correct, so in this respect it is like Duchesse lace but because you only use 7 pairs the finished motifs appear more delicate.
Saturday afternoon was a free period so we were able to explore the surroundings before getting together again for supper and then more lacemaking.
We were heads down again early on Sunday and carried on after lunch. By the time we had to stop in mid-afternoon I had managed to complete 4 motifs and another on the pillow and came away with a load of pattern ideas, courtesy of Judith.
Before leaving we had a farewell cup of tea when Jane, the organiser, presented each of us with a Sallie Reason commemorative bobbin.
I thoroughly enjoyed the course which was well organised and friendly, Judith was an excellent tutor, the surroundings were comfotable and the meals delicious.
Thank you Tonbridge Lacemakers for the very generous contribution to the cost of this weekend.

Thought for the day

If nothing sticks to Teflon, how do they get the teflon coating to stick to the pan?